Sunday, August 29, 2010

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

So, I've been working on a pattern for a one size diaper cover lately. It's still in the works and there are a lot of kinks I need to iron out before I sell it. I'm also waiting for a teeny-tiny sized tester to be born within the next couple of weeks! I prefer friends to test my diapers so I can get their honest feedback and see the fit for myself. In any case, I made this for a friend to test and, since her son's nursery is decorated with turtles, I decided to applique this one and add turtle engraved snaps from Kamsnaps.com. The cover is made of an inner layer of PUL. As usual, the outer layer is made from upcycled T shirts which is sort of my signature thing, I guess! In any case, I'm pretty proud of it. I'm sure I"ll add it to my shop within the next couple of weeks or months. It's hard to say now that I"m back to teaching. I want to keep my priorities straight and not get so caught up in my shop that I don't spend enough time with my family. Oh, and sorry for the picture quality! I'd forgotten to take a picture of it so I did one really quickly with my iPhone before dropping it off at her house! Ha ha!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Bunny is eleven months now and we're seriously planning her first birthday party which will be in a couple of weeks. So maybe this behavior is her age, I don't know, but she has become a little tornado of destruction, every where she goes! It's like she looks for something to explore that will make a big bang or a nice ripping sound and then goes around our house knocking things off shelves and stealing and unraveling my yarn, and chewing on electrical wires. It's not like our house isn't baby proofed, either. Our living room looks more like a toy chest than the modern, relaxing space it's intended to be, and that's fine. I love it that way. But since we let her play there most of the time we've taken the time to make it safe. So how is it possible that she manages to find the one dangerous thing in the room every time?

Yesterday, her destructive behavior was laughable--and frustrating, but mostly for her. I had to run around the house getting some things done before going to the post office and mailing some diapers to customers from my shop. As I'm getting ready to go and trying to do it all with Bunny on my hip (because if she doesn't have me in her line of vision, she cries like she's lost her best friend), she's grabbing the wool shorties I'm mailing out to one customer and I barely got them from her in time to save them from her mouth, and then she grabbed the package of envelopes I was using the mail them, and then the fitted diaper I'm trying to send to my other customer. All I wanted to do was address these envelopes and stuff them and my daughter has an entire room dedicated to her play time and she wants to play with the things Mommy has. Then, as we're leaving and I"m trying to balance her on one hip and my purse, the diaper bag, the two packages, and of course my keys in the other hand, she's ripping the sunglasses off of my head, and trying to pry the keys out of my hands, and grabbing both packages and wrinkling the paper before I can do anything to stop her. I find it cute and funny. I"m not complaining, but this new exploratory energy certainly adds a new dimension to parenting! It's exhausting! She's so smart and she does so many amazing things and I guess in order to continue to learn, she has to explore and the ripping, tearing, throwing, knocking down, and chewing area all a part of the experiments that she puts her world through to figure it out. I think I need an extra nap! Oh wait, she's boycotting her nap time too!

Well, that said, school starts Monday. I'll teach for four hours every morning and then come home at 12:30 to be with my Bunny all afternoon. Of course, I would prefer it if I could be a stay at home mom but if I have to work, this setup is wonderful. My school is wonderful, my students are so well-behaved that sometimes I wonder if they're paid actors, and I still get to feel like I'm a stay at home mom once I come home. It's been nice being with Bunny all summer long (even though I wasn't at home with her all that time), but now it's time to go back to school and I'm accepting it. God obviously has a plan with my being there. I just wonder how her nap schedule will go when her time is split between me and her daddy (and an occasional baby sitter). I sort of hope she decides to nap when I'm home or I just may collapse :-D.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Diapers.com just added Fuzzi Bunz OS diapers and BumGenius 4.0 to their site! I'm so excited about that! If you've never ordered from them before, you can get %15 off your first order with my referral code: BECC7547.
Then, you'll have your own referral code and you can start accumulating store credit yourself!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I recently got a chance to read the copy of A Summer Secret by Kathleen Fuller that Thomas Nelson sent me to review. In this book, we meet Mary Beth is the only girl in a family full of boys who are always making noise, mess, and being a general nuisance—even her twin brother. She is sick and tired of not having any peace and quiet in her house so she finds her own little retreat in an abandoned and dilapidated barn on the adjacent property. There, she finds a quiet sanctuary from her rowdy household and a place to draw, write in her journal, and dream. Until one day when her brother Johnny follows her to the forbidden spot and threatens to tattle and she must share her haven with him. Before long the two of them find of an intruder who seems to be sharing their secret spot. When the two of them sneak out at night to investigate, they meet Sawyer, a runaway Englisher who does not wish to be caught. Johnny and Mary Beth realize that they must help this boy and try to do so without being caught by their parents. But when a barn fire comes and threatens to destroy all of their secrets, it unravels their well-laid plans as well.

When I first started reading this book, I expected it to be a typical romantic Amish love story and I wondered why the writing was a bit more simple and juvenile than other stories of its kind. Upon further investigation, I realized that it is a mystery novel that is, in fact, written for children—hence the childlike language chosen by the author. It is my opinion that this is a book that any youth would thoroughly enjoy. I’m glad to have it in my library so that my children will one day enjoy the story themselves.

This book was sent to me by Thomas Nelson to review. I was not compensated financially in any way for this review and the opinions expressed here are my own.

Friday, August 13, 2010

I am so proud of the sheep shorties (size Large) because I learned a new stitch to make them. I really REALLY wanted to make a sheep with furry wool and I searched on youtube and found a way to do it! Yay!!!

These, with the octopus, are size Medium. Also very cute! I used scraps of wool yarn left over from other knitting projects to fill the octopus and make him stand out.

My daughter is modeling both shorties over a waterproof bumGenius diaper so that they are clean and remain in perfect, unused condition. I normally don't have her model the diapers I sell because she has her own version, but the shorties I made for her have a mistake so I decided to let her model these.

Anyway, if you're interested, go on over to my shop and check them out! Or, you can enter my Woolie Giveaway and win a chance to get your own, custom-made woollies!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Dear Bunny Tails,
I am so sorry that my failure to do research before choosing a name for my diapers has caused you distress. And I am sorry that I further caused stress in your life when I voiced my frustrations here with the situation that ensued. As you may have already deduced, I think you chose an adorable name for your store and I wish you nothing but success and blessing. Please go in peace knowing that I harbor no malice and have (and had) no intentions of marring your good name.
May God bless you with peace.
Becca
(whose diapers shall now remain nameless until sufficient research has been done ;-D)

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Saturday, August 7, 2010

There is something revolutionary happening in my personal life. Normally I don't talk about my personal life here, I save it for my private blog, but I feel I must share.

I'm learning to surrender.

I've been holding on so tightly to MY dreams and MY ways and MY finances and not trusting God with HIS plans and I don't know why it didn't occur to me until now that this is stunting my spiritual growth and stressing me out to no end.

We've been visiting our denomination's camp meeting this week when we can and one day something just set me off into anger and worry. It reminded me that I'm not a stay at home mom and I want to be. It's my goal. So as we drove home I told my husband, "You know, God KNOWS that I want to stay at home with Bunny. It's all I've ever wanted out of life. Ever since I was a little girl. So why would he let this happen to me?"

"Becca, are you surrendering to His will?" my sweet husband asked calmly in response to my rage.

I was convicted but didn't want to admit it or let go of the vice grip I was maintaining to what I felt was rightfully mine.

"I'm not backing down. There are no other options. I want to be a stay at home mom and that's that. It's not fair," I countered angrily.

My sweetie persisted, "So you think God should bend His will to yours?"

I frowned inwardly knowing he was right but not about to admit it and I started getting angry at my hubby for taking God's side in the matter.

"I believe He gives us our desires!" I persisted, trying to find a loophole.

"Do you delight yourself in Him?" he asked, not giving in to my temper tantrum.

I had to be honest that no, I don't necessarily delight in Him. I'm always working so hard to try to find ways to get what I want. I sell my diapers hoping that one day that will help me stay at home. I write blog posts for The Cloth Diaper Blog because it earns me spending money monthly. I fuss and fret about his job and how they don't seem to pay him what I feel they should. Do I ever take the time to stop and delight myself in my relationship with Jesus Christ? No. I don't. I'm too busy trying to do His job rather than giving over my issues to Him.

I brushed these thoughts aside and the subject eventually changed.

Later that night, we went back to the camp meeting for the evening service. The preacher's message was entitled, "I Wish Jesus Hadn't Said That."

You want to guess what it was about? Yep. It was about surrender.

Luke 14:26 says:

26“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.

Did you hear that? I'm supposed to hate it all in comparison to Him. It sounds so harsh. So wrong. ...and yet it sounds so wonderful to be so close to Jesus that no one else could compare.

Then the preacher talked about what things usually are the biggest and most difficult to surrender--our dreams. It was then, that I realized that God was responding to my tyrade in the car earlier that morning. He was saying, "Becca, yes, I even want you to surrender your dreams to be a stay at home mom. Don't you trust me?"

When the preacher called us to the altar, I hesitated. I could say the prayer at my seat, couldn't I? Did I really need to go up front to prove I'd surrendered? But I felt Jesus compelling me to go...to take that public step. I went and bowed down and just named all the things I was holding on to so tightly and then I told Him that I want to surrender them to Him. And I wept as I gave up what I've been clenching to with white knuckles for so long. I wept for the grief of giving Him control that I never really had. And when my husband knelt beside me and took my hand and prayed with me, and we surrendered even our precious little Bunny to Him, I wept some more because I didn't want to give Him everything... and yet I really yearned to.

I left the altar feeling so much relief and peace. I don't know why I didn't surrender sooner. Life has so much more joy and peace when held in His faithful hands. I left feeling uplifted that I'd made a new commitment to Him.

So I may not blog as much as I tried to before. I may not post as many diapers on my Etsy shop or peruse as many websites looking for deals. I'm tired of holding the reins to my life and trying to provide. Jesus promised He'd always provide for us. And I have a feeling that my hopes and dreams are held more safely in his treasure chest than in mine.

Matthew 10:29-3229What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.30And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.31So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

Friday, August 6, 2010

I recently decided to call my diapers "Bunny Tails." I did so because it was original and no one else seemed to have the name. Also, because we call my daughter "bunny" It made sense. Well, apparently someone on Etsy already had that name. IT's not my username (I'm currently Clothdiapermommy) so it's not in my etsy shop's addressL. I just changed the shop name and added it to the titles of my diapers a couple weeks back.

Last night, this lady then contacted me and accused me of taking her name which she claims is a registered business but I don't think she's trademarked. Since I didn't do it on purpose I told her that I was not aware she existed and I would change it. As it was late at night, I changed the title of my Etsy hoping to keep things peaceable and then went to bed, planning on changing everything else in the morning. By the time I woke up this morning she'd created a thread on Etsy mentioning my etsy as "Seller Fraudulently Representing their Products as Mine" (You can read it at this URL if you are so inclined: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6593901&page=1)

Anyway, I wrote back to her basically saying that I decided to go to bed and get my sleep rather than obsess about the drama she created for me and that I was fully planning on changing things elsewhere.

And I did. I'm now "A Bunny Tale" rather than "Bunny Tails" and I even started a new etsy account with that as my name so that I'll know that no one else has the name on etsy. I guess since I'm still a relatively new seller, I'll just start transferring my items over there. I'm easy going. I don't like drama and I'm not going to put up a fight with this woman.

But my question is this. What's protecting me from this happening in the future? Who's to say that someone won't come along and say that my new title is "theirs" and I'll have to keep changing it for as long as I'm selling my wares? I don't have money for a lawyer as evidenced by the fact that I started an Etsy in the first place. I just want to be left alone so I can do my best to work from home when I can.

I just want to sell my diapers and I want people to leave me alone. Any advice? I feel like a total idiot here after she slandered my good name...

Monday, August 2, 2010

I've been selling things in My Etsy Shop for over a month now. I'm doing well--averaging about one sale a week so far which has been able to buy my daughter's birthday present for her upcoming first birthday. So, I think it's time. I think it's time I gave away one of my things. Yay!!! Do I have to? Probably not since you all subscribe to my blog anyway, but I want to because it's fun. I love giving away my things to my real life friends, so why not give them away to my cyber friends as well!

I've decided to give away one of my wool soakers because I feel that lots of cloth diapering mamas out there are scared of wool. It just doesn't LOOK like a viable option for a diaper cover. I mean, especially hand-knit stuff because it's got all those holes in it! Well, that's what I thought anyway. But wool is amazing because:

1. It's absolutely all natural. God knew how to keep his sheep (his literal sheep :-P) from getting wet by giving them amazing wool coats infused with lanolin. Why not use his awesome creation to keep our baby's bottoms comfy?

2. In the summer, it's the absolute best option for your sweaty little one because it's the coolest most breathable option.

3. But since it's wool, it's optimum for the winter months as well!

4. Seriously, though, my favorite thing about wool is that when my Bunny has a diaper rash, all I have to do is put her in wool and some all natural prefolds or fitteds and the rash eases gently away with no need to use any creams or salves on her little bum.

5. And I also like that you can use a wool cover for about 2 weeks before having to wash it. It seems counter-intuitive because the inside definitely gets soaked with urine after a good pee and once it's aired out and dried, there is no scent of urine. I mean, God really endowed sheep with an amazing and naturally protective outer layer. Why not use His ingenuity on our precious baby bums?

6. One more thing I love about wool is that it feels humid when wet. It won't leave messes or even wetness on the things touching it such as your hip or your baby's onesie, but it gently lets you know when it's time to change your baby. I have to admit that sometimes I need this reminder.

So with that in mind, I am offering a custom knit item. It can be wool shorties, a wool headband, wool soaker--I am offering any type of knit thing that you find in my shop and I'll make you what you want in the size you want and color you want. I'll even applique anything you want on it such as a puppy dog face, a rose, or ruffles. In return, I ask one thing of you. Please advertise this giveaway and my Shop for me. That's all. No need to follow or even tell me what you think about wool. Just advertise for this hard-working WAHM.

So here are the "official" accepted entries. (please include your email with at least one of your comments)5 entries for blogging about it--please mention this giveaway and my shop's web address including one of your favorite items that I'm selling. Leave the URL to your blog entry in your comment.

1 entry for each tweet that you write (limit one per day)--mention either my giveaway or my shop as I realize you may not be able to fit it all. Leave the URL to your tweet in your comment.

1 entry for each time you mention it on your facebook status (limit one per day)--please mention this giveaway and my shop's web address. (leave the URL to your FB status in your comment)

...and since I want you to buy my adorable stuff... 10 entries if you buy something from my shop. :-D

This contest will run from today, August 2 until Friday, August 20th.

In return for your kind advertising, one of you will win a custom made, handknit baby item--either a wool soaker, shorties, headband, or baby hat.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Diapers.com is selling some HH OS for only $13.99. I believe they are the older version of the diaper since I ordered some a few weeks ago and they don't have the tag placed prominently on the front of the diaper. Still quality, though. Currently, only the lime green is in stock but a lot of colors are on sale once they're stocked up so you can keep a look out. If you're new to Diapers.com and you've never made an order there, use my code

BECC7547

and you'll get %15 off your order of $49 or more plus free shipping, and you'll help me by giving me some referral credits so I can get some stuff my daughter needs/wants for her birthday.

As for my wipes situation, I couldn't bear the thought of disposables, so I made 17 wipes from cheap flannel remnants at Joann's.

Three of them were chocolate brown which bled all over my other wipes and a little on a few of my diapers. They've been retired.

The rest of the wipes are beautiful and now I have more than enough. Wait. I already had more than enough wipes. I think maybe my new wipes will become kitchen wipes? Or even just wipes for little dirty fingers?

In any case, I'm home and that was our 6th and final trip of the summer.

Zulily.com

About Me

I'm an amateur seamstress, a pretty decent knitter, and also a cloth diapering, baby wearing, breastfeeding, and baby food making mom to a creative, loving, independent, potty-trained, "I'll do it myself" four year old girl and a happy, chunky, adorable new baby boy who is quickly stealing all of our hearts. In addition to being a part time stay-at-home-mom, I'm a part time Spanish teacher so sometimes I feel like a JILL of all trades :-D.

Some inspiration from Max Lucado

"You see, he didn't have to go. He had a choice. He could have stayed. He could have kept his mouth shut. He could have ignored the call or at least postponed it. And had he chosen to stay, who would've known? Who would have blamed him? "He could have come back as a man in another era when society wasn't so volatile, when religion wasn't so stale, when people would listen better. "He could have come back when crosses were out of style. "But his heart wouldn't let him. If there was hesitation on the part of his humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of his divinity. His divinity heard the voices. His divinity heard the hopeless cries of the poor, the bitter accusations of the abandoned, the dangling despair of those who are trying to save themselves. "And you can be sure of one thing. Among the voices that found their way into that carpentry shop in Nazareth was your voice. Your silent prayers uttered on tearstained pillows were heard before they were said. Your deepest questions about death and eternity were answered before they were asked. And your direst need, your need for a Savior, was met before you ever sinned. " -Max Lucado